1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed in general to communications systems and methods for operating same. In one aspect, the present invention relates to a devices and methods for performing peer-to-peer (P2P) data sharing operations between peer nodes in a wireless-enabled communications environment.
2. Description of the Related Art
The technologies currently available for implementation in today's wireless communications environments make it feasible to support bandwidth-intensive content distribution services (CDS) such as video on demand (VoD). As an example, various IEEE 802.11 (“WiFi”) variants, which have limited range, currently provide data rates of up to 100Mbps, while current IEEE 802.16 (“WiMAX”) variants currently provide up to 40 Mbps. As another example, Long Term Evolution (LTE) technologies can typically support 5-10 Mbps downlink and 2-5 Mbps uplink data rates. The availability of these data rates, coupled with the widespread adoption of smart phones and other mobile devices, makes the mainstream use of resource-consuming multimedia applications in a mobile environment a reality.
However, the delivery of bandwidth-intensive content is not without attendant issues and challenges. As an example, a mobile subscriber typically establishes a wireless connection between a client node (e.g., a smart phone or other mobile device) and an access node (e.g., a cellular base station or a wireless broadband access point). Once the connection is established, the user typically searches for desired content at a web portal implemented on the Internet or other IP-based network. Once located, the desired content is retrieved from a content source, such as a content data source server that is likewise implemented on the Internet. Once retrieved, the content is then wirelessly transmitted to the requestor's client node.
As a result of this process, it is not uncommon to incur latency during delivery of the content, particularly if the transmission condition of the wireless link being used is not operating at optimum capacity. One approach to this issue is to implement cache servers at predetermined network locations. For example, a content provider may implement cache serves where wireless broadband access networks connect to the Internet. As another example, a wireless provider may implement multiple cache servers in their wireless environment(s) to reduce local network congestion, data transmission transit distances, and content delivery latencies. However, the cost of deploying such cache servers, and keeping the content they contain synchronized, can incur significant operational overhead and associated costs.